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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Sedition And The Responsibility Of Modern Media

By Diana Mukkalid This commentary was published in Asharq al-Awsat on 16/05/2011

"Christians are carrying weapons, and we Muslims have bottles only. We will not be real men if we did not torch the churches of Imbaba."

The Salafi youth who uttered that threat can be viewed easily on the Youtube website, with his hostility towards the Copts being loudly applauded by a group who had gathered to protest against a woman being detained inside a church, after she converted to Islam. They claimed they had come to rescue her.

Provocative statements such as this were issued at the time of the bloody confrontations that took place in Imbaba a few days ago, and have spread widely and in a worrisome manner. The traditional Egyptian media outlets, by refraining from broadcasting such opinions, will not necessarily succeed in containing the explosion of sectarian violence, as the virtual world in Egypt is full of fuel for sectarian violence, with extensive momentum.

Even if demonstrations are staged in front of radio and television buildings, this will not solve a crisis that has remained dormant for decades before the Egyptian revolution broke out, thus creating a new reality.

To make matters worse, angry Copts have issued statements in which they yearned for the old days of the previous regime, saying they do not believe in the January 25th Revolution anymore. This has coincided with Muslim demands to interrogate Abeer, Camilia, and others to determine whether they had converted to Islam, and whether they were forced to retract this decision.

When cases such as that of Camilia and others transform into a national sectarian cause, this suggests that the current Egyptian climate is one of pure congestion.

It is true that the first, urgent step to be taken is to adopt firm measures to contain and end the violence, yet what must also be addressed is the language being used, especially that of the Salafis, Islamic currents, and others within this atmosphere.

The media, both public and private, may impose censorship on the material filmed by their cameramen, but there are still social networking websites that are not subject to censorship, and enjoy almost limitless freedom, something that paves the way for incitement. Apart from the political and sectarian dilemma represented by the Salafi phenomenon in Egypt, what is of more concern is their ability to appear on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. Here the modernity problem arises; the same outlets that inspired revolutions can also give rise to evil and create disasters. The dilemma does not lie in what modern technology produces, but in the culture conveyed, or carried through such technologies. Instead of blaming the computer for what happened in Egypt, we should ask al-Azhar, and perhaps the government and the army, about their plans to curb this phenomenon. We say: the question must be addressed to these official bodies, and not the Salafi currents themselves. They still seem unable to speak anything other than the language and logic they are currently pursuing.

About Me

I graduated from the French University in Beirut (St Joseph) specialising in Political and Economic Sciences. I started my working life in 1973 as a reporter and journalist for the pan-Arab magazine “Al-Hawadess” in Lebanon later becoming its Washington, D.C. correspondent. I subsequently moved to London in 1979 joining “Al-Majallah” magazine as its Deputy Managing Editor. In 1984 joined “Assayad” magazine in London initially as its Managing Editor and later as Editor-in-Chief. Following this, in 1990 I joined “Al-Wasat” magazine (part of the Dar-Al-Hayat Group) in London as a Managing Editor. In 2011 I became the Editor-In-Chief of Miraat el-Khaleej (Gulf Mirror). In July 2012 I became the Chairman of The Board of Asswak Al-Arab Publishing Ltd in UK and the Editor In Chief of its first Publication "Asswak Al-Arab" Magazine (Arab Markets Magazine) (www.asswak-alarab.com).

I have already authored five books. The first “The Tears of the Horizon” is a love story. The second “The Winter of Discontent in The Gulf” (1991) focuses on the first Gulf war sparked by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. His third book is entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: From Balfour Promise to Bush Declaration: The Complications and the Road to a Lasting Peace” (March 2008). The fourth book is titled “How Iran Plans to Fight America and Dominate the Middle East” (October 2008) And the fifth and the most recent is titled "JIHAD'S NEW HEARTLANDS: Why The West Has Failed To Contain Islamic Fundamentalism" (May 2011).

Furthermore, I wrote the memoirs of national security advisor to US President Ronald Reagan, Mr Robert McFarlane, serializing them in “Al-Wasat” magazine over 14 episodes in 1992.

Over the years, I have interviewed and met several world leaders such as American President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Margaret Thacher, Late King Hassan II of Morocco, Late King Hussein of Jordan,Tunisian President Zein El-Abedine Bin Ali, Lybian Leader Moammar Al-Quadhafi,President Amine Gemayel of Lebanon,late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Late Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, Haitian President Jean Claude Duvalier, Late United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan,Algerian President Shazli Bin Jdid, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Siyagha and more...